With the aim of being able to show breakdancing in a very different light, project B-Boys in Motion: a Break Dance Experience in Frames and Flashes packed its bags and headed to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
With three B-Boys in tow and photographer Marcelo Maragni with his camera at the ready, they got to work on achieving Maragni's concept. "I had the idea a few years ago when I was shooting a race adventure at night. The competitors were using headlamps and I started to follow their movements and taking photos on a long exposure with a flash. So I tracked the athletes and used the flash to freeze on certain moments. After that I started working on using the same effects in other sports and now I'm bringing this to the B-Boys because I think it totally works with the scene."
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Maragni explains: "Here I used basically two techniques, both with long light exposure, somewhere between one and five seconds of exposure. The first one was taken with a strobe light. There’s a lot of flashes in sequence and then the main image is captured with a different colour flash." "It’s takes you through it like a series of steps... all the single movements in a sequence," said B-Boy Kokada.
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
"It is a very new and innovative approach," said B-Boy Lil G. "It’s a bit like 3D and a new development in photography too." Maragni's next trick was to fix LEDs to the B-Boys' trainers...
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
B-Boy Lil G: "I really enjoyed the photo shoot with the LEDs because I was doing a move I really love: the headspin. I can spin and spin and spin without putting my hands on the floor while making lots of movements with my legs. When I saw the picture I was amazed because you can see all these lines around me and the main movement."
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
With the B-Boys amazed by the images produced, it was left up to Brazilian Lil G to have the final word. "In my country, when you’re really impressed by a project, you say 'borralo!'. It is like there’s nothing more to say; it’s perfect."
Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
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